The present invention pertains to an apparatus for rotating and simultaneously opening a split ring to facilitate attachment of an object to the ring or to use the ring to interconnect two or more objects.
A split ring comprising a piece of wire formed into two circular coils lying in tight back-to-back relation is well known as convenient means for attaching a variety of objects in a secure, but if necessary demountable, manner. Key rings are one example of the multitude of uses to which split rings are adapted. Split rings are also widely used in the assembly of many products, one of which is the currently popular remote control for keyless vehicle entry systems. The use of split rings for keyless entry remote controls may be to some extent a vestige of the key ring technology being replaced, but split rings still provide a convenient means by which the vehicle owner may retain conventional keys, identification tags, and the like with the remote control.
A split ring is typically characterized by two coils of a single length of wire formed back-to-back in a tight coil with the opposing surfaces flattened somewhat and the opposite free ends spaced by a small gap on opposite sides of the wire at the point of wire crossover from one coil to the other at approximately the midpoint along the wire. In any assembly technique, a narrow-edged tool is typically inserted into the split between the coils and adjacent one free end of the wire to allow the closed-loop objects intended to be attached to the ring to be slipped over the free end. Thereafter, the ring is simply rotated or turned with respect to the object approximately one complete turn to allow the object to travel along the split between the two coils until it reaches the opposite free end, whereupon the object completely encircles the ring coil and is secured thereto.
Equipment of various types has been developed to facilitate the assembly of objects to split rings. Such equipment has varied in complexity from a simple hand-held pliers device including a pointed tooth on one jaw to facilitate opening the split in the ring, to more complex semiautomatic assembly equipment which actually holds, positions, and opens a ring in a manner to allow an operator to handle only the object or objects to be attached to the ring. Examples of prior art devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,340,595 and 3,596,341. An improvement in semiautomatic assembly equipment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,877, which apparatus can accurately and reliably handle a range of sizes of split rings to present the rings in sequence and in proper orientation for rapid operator-assisted assembly of an object or objects to the ring.